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Driver Lifestyles

Slamming the Curtains Just Does Not Work

By Sandy Long
Posted Dec 16th 2013 8:24AM

There are many benefits to running team. One is never alone, one has someone to take
over in case of illness or fatigue, one has someone to help with the work
outside of the seat and one has someone to call on in dangerous
situations. On the flip side, one is
never or rarely alone and those 8x8 cabs can get awfully small and tight with
two people trying to occupy the same space.

Most teams are husband/wife (relationship teams), two friends, two
family members running together or in some cases, strangers matched up in the
terminal to either train or just run together.
Relationship teams are most common these days outside of training and
very prevalent in expediting and other just in time freight operations.

Maintaining a relationship is hard enough when two people are
at home, with different jobs where they are not together 24/7. Putting the two into a truck cab 24/7 and it
is like tap dancing thru a minefield to keep the relationship strong and
intact. If you are not in a team running
situation and want to get a feel for what this is like, imagine yourself locked
in the bathroom with your spouse/partner for even a full day; after the first
hour, what do you talk about and what if a discussion turns heated.

When a spouse/partner joins the other on the truck, one of the
hardest things for the experienced driver to learn is how to drive â€˜team styleâ€™. This means starting and stopping easier,
shifting easier, cornering less sharply and judicial use of the engine
retarders. It is also harder for the
experienced driver to sleep, at first, behind someone else unless they have run
team before.

To overcome that, the experienced driver should become as tired
as they safely can, pack pillows between themselves and the back bunk wall and lying
on their side, hug a pillow against their chest; this changes the center of
gravity of the sleeper. It is not the up
and down bouncing that keeps someone awake as much as it is the rocking back
and forth, it stirs up the â€˜fear of fallingâ€™ fear everyone has.

Many spouses come into the truck to run team with their other
halves thinking they will get to spend a lot of time together. Yes, to a degree, this is true, but in a hard
running team operation, the time together
may be an hour or two during shift changes if that, before the non driving
partner goes to the bunk. Though many
teams try to schedule enough time in the day to eat a meal together or take
time to get a shower to break up the day and spend time together outside of the
truck, the real time together is in downtime waiting for a load or waiting out
an hours of service break.

During these times, many teams plan sightseeing trips or visits
to family or friends in the area. The
key is to spend time doing something fun together or make sure there is some
time apart. For instance, while one
remains in the truck reading or taking a nap, the other teammate goes inside to
drink coffee or visit with other drivers.
The purpose is to provide something besides trucking business to talk
about and some time to work through stress without feeling hemmed in by the
other partner, however, always make sure your partner knows your whereabouts and
never leave the truck stop environs without notifying your partner where you
are going.

Keeping up with individual interests is much easier now than in
the old days with internet access and cell phones, this provides something new
to talk about for teammates. Boredom can
lead to arguments, so keeping from becoming bored is important. It helps if both drivers enjoy some of the
same music, news channels or audio book types.
If noise from the cab area is an issue for the off duty driver trying to
sleep, use those clip on clips to hang an additional â€˜curtainâ€™ over the sleeper
curtain to help muffle the noise, use a light blanket or heavy sheet.

Dividing chores on a truck usually goes along a set course in
relationship teams; the male does the mechanical work such as checking oil,
tires, fluid levels, fueling and supervising loading/unloading while the female
does navigating, phone work, paperwork and cleaning chores. This is not a hard and fast rule, but how it
usually works out. However, this can
cause issues if the male goes down sick or has to leave to truck for family
issues while under load.

A man was a long time trucker, when the kids were grown, his
wife decided to come and drive with him.
She went to school and the man finished her training. After about a year of running team, the man
got a phone call that his father was dying and he should get home. The team was under load and even though there
were other drivers going to the same place that could have helped the wife if
she needed it to take the load on herself, the man refused to allow her to do
so. This not only caused him to miss
seeing his father before he died, but caused resentment issues with his wife.

It is important that both members of a team can do all aspects
of the job. This way, one does not have
to wake the other to fuel, navigate or back into a spot unless difficulties arise. However, most teams try to plan the trip so
fueling or whatever can be done during shift change times, though there are
those times when plans go awry. This
also helps conserve hours on the log book.

Disagreements are bound to happen between teammates, there are
after all, two distinct personalities cooped up together in a small space. Arguing while driving though is the worst
form of distracted driving. Unlike at
home, where one person can go into another room or outside to avoid an
argument, one cannot do that going down the road at 65 mph.

One long time team developed a word to use when tempers were
starting to flare. When either one used
the word, in this case, teakettle, they stopped talking about whatever was
raising ire. Later on, when stopped, the
discussion restarted if necessary. This
worked for them for over 20 years and is still working.

Another team keeps a â€˜gripeâ€™ book. If one or the other one does or says
something that angers or annoys the other when working, they write it down in
the notebook. When they stop and have
time, they go over whatever it was. They
report though that usually by the time they have time to go over the â€˜gripeâ€™
the mood has changed and they get a good laugh out of it.

The joys and benefits of running team are many, increased miles
and pay, time to spend together enjoying the beauty the country has to offer
and never being alone being the major ones.
Remember the drawbacks too and develop strategies to deal with them
before they happen, sleeper curtains just do not slam like doors at home do.

4 Comments

- December 31, 2013Ann Robertson-=|=- this article is right on the money, one thing I can say is my husband and I have ran team for about 8 years and yes all these things do happen. Usually a team is ran hard to get to their destination, but after we got our load delivered and had time to sit down and have a nice shower and a meal I would notice other teams ( husband /wife drivers) that would come into the resturaunt they would be holding hands and you could tell they had been running hard too. There is a special bond between a husband / wife teams even when you dnt agree about something

- December 31, 2013Ann Robertson-=|=- this article is right on the money, one thing I can say is my husband and I have ran team for about 8 years and yes all these things do happen. Usually a team is ran hard to get to their destination, but after we got our load delivered and had time to sit down and have a nice shower and a meal I would notice other teams ( husband /wife drivers) that would come into the resturaunt they would be holding hands and you could tell they had been running hard too. There is a special bond between a husband / wife teams even when you dnt agree about something

- February 14, 2014Lesly Fehn-=|=-Running teams with my boyfriend was the best time of my life. I saw this awesome country of ours and went places most people only dream of going. I enjoyed the companionship of being a team and the closeness of our relationship. Unfortunately, my love passed away from a pulmonary embolism while in the truck. That ended my driving career and for the most part, my life. I would like to go back on the road as a team but I am afraid to trust someone's driving that I don't know. Maybe one of these days I will get behind the wheel again.

- February 14, 2014Lesly Fehn-=|=-Running teams with my boyfriend was the best time of my life. I saw this awesome country of ours and went places most people only dream of going. I enjoyed the companionship of being a team and the closeness of our relationship. Unfortunately, my love passed away from a pulmonary embolism while in the truck. That ended my driving career and for the most part, my life. I would like to go back on the road as a team but I am afraid to trust someone's driving that I don't know. Maybe one of these days I will get behind the wheel again.

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